11 Tips to Save You $1000 This Year

The typical American family spends about $2000 per year on their home energy bills, according to U.S. Department of Energy. Families are also spending more on water, too. But these 11 tips can help you save big money this year.

The typical American family spends about $2000 per year on their home energy bills, according to U.S. Department of Energy. Families are also spending more on water, too. But these 11 tips can help you save big money this year.

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1Fix a Leaking Faucet

A leak of one drop per second can cost $1 per month. While that's not a lot of money, it is terribly wasteful: American Water Works Association calculates that that leak wastes 8.64 gallons of water per day, 259 gallons per month, and more than 3154 gallons each year. Bigger leaks will waste more and cost more.

To test for leaks—including leaks that may not be obvious—turn off all of the faucets in the house. Then record the reading on your water meter. Leave everything off, then check the meter again in a couple of hours. If there's no difference in the reading, great—you don't have any leaks. But any change you see is the amount of water you're wasting via leaks every 2 hours. Buy a faucet repair kit at a home center or hardware store to fix the leak. Most cost less than $10.

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2Apply Plastic Over Windows

Covering windows and patio doors with clear plastic stops cold air from coming inside, and it can make a surprising difference if you have drafty windows. Insulator kits come with double-sided tape; you stick it to your window frame, and then stick the plastic covering to the other side of the tape and cut to fit the window. You can use a blow-dryer to eliminate wrinkles in the film, making it nearly invisible. The tape won't harm the finish when you remove it.

If you have windows that never open, such as ones in a two-story foyer, leave them covered year-round to save money in the summer too. The insulation kits cost about $5 to cover two windows. 3M, which manufacturers the kits, says the film can save up to $17 per window during the winter for homes in the North.

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3Stop Powering Electronics Not in Use

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Even when televisions, cellphone chargers, gaming consoles, and other electronics are turned off, they're still using power. Energy Star estimates that the average U.S. household spends $100 each year to power electric devices that are turned off or in standby mode. The best way to stop them is to unplug the cord, or to plug them all into a power strip and turn off the strip when you're not using the devices.

Energy Star also recommends activating the low-power sleep mode on your computer monitor and on your computer, which can save you $50 annually. Click on the operating system and follow the instructions to have the computer automatically enter a sleep mode after a brief period of inactivity.

Contrary to popular myth, leaving on lights, computers, and other electronics does not consume less electricity than turning them off and turning them back on again. The small surge of power needed to turn on devices is significantly less than the energy needed to power them continuously.

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4Replace Old Weatherstripping

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Another way to fix drafty doors and windows: Replace that worn-out weatherstripping. Weatherstripping keeps air from infiltrating the house by providing a tight seal around the doors and windows when they're closed, but it wears out over time.

The Department of Energy estimates a 5 to 10 percent savings on energy bills by replacing weatherstripping that's degraded. Use a weatherstripping that can handle the friction of the doors and windows as they open and close. It should also compress to form a tight seal and let the doors and windows open easily without dragging. Right before the door or window closes completely, you should feel the weatherstripping provide a slight bit of resistance as it compresses, but it shouldn't make the door or windows difficult to open. As a good rule of thumb, replace the weatherstripping with the same type that you've been using.

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5Update Old Appliances

You probably don't think about buying new appliances until yours are on the fritz. Depending on their age, however, updating them now could save you hundreds of dollars.

Energy Star says replacing a washing machine that's more than 10 years old with a new one can save you $135 per year in electricity. On top of that, high-efficiency washers also conserve water. Traditional top-loading models use between 27 and 54 gallons of water per load, while new energy- and water-conserving front-load washers use less than 27 gallons per load. Replacing a dryer made before 1994 with an Energy Star model can save you $40 annually while also saving 1300 gallons of water over its lifetime. Updating a refrigerator made before 1996 with an Energy Star unit can save hundreds of dollars on electricity over the life of the appliance.

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6Install an Airtight Dryer Vent

Traditional dryer vents have flimsy flappers that can get stuck open, offering a free passageway for outside air to rush into your house. If your laundry room always feels cold in the winter, your vent is probably acting like a 4-inch-wide open window.

Installing an energy-efficient vent, which uses a floating shuttle to allow dryer air and moisture to escape but can't get stuck open, can save up to 10 percent on heating costs. The plastic vent can be painted and fits on siding, brick, or concrete. It costs about $20.

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7Seal Your Ducts

Ducts for a forced-air furnace, central air conditioner, or heat pump often waste a lot of energy because gaps from poor connections allow heated or cooled air to leak out of ductwork. If you have rooms that are never comfortable—they won't warm up in the winter or cool down in the summer—or if you have ducts that run through an unfinished basement, attic, crawlspace or garage, then you're probably paying more to heat and cool your home than you should.

Energy Star says you can improve the efficiency of your heating and cooling system by 20 percent by sealing the seams and connections with duct sealant or metal-backed tape and then wrapping the ducts with insulation. The challenge is getting to them—ducts are typically concealed inside walls and ceilings. But even taping and insulating just the ductwork you can access easily will make a difference.

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8Monitor Your Energy

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Knowing how much electricity you're using (and wasting) can help you curb bad habits and save money. A home energy monitor provides real-time data on your energy usage. It has a sensor that attaches to your electric meter and transmits information wirelessly to a monitor inside the home to tell you how much electricity you're using and how much it's costing, based on your local utility rates.

Hooking up the monitor won't save you anything, but once you have the data to identify your usage patterns, you can make changes to reduce how much electricity you use. Blue Line Innovations, which offers the monitors, says using the device and then changing how you consume electricity can save you money. The Department of Energy points out that making changes to your usage habits can reduce energy bills by up to 25 percent.

But you'll pay a lot to get started with the monitor. It costs about $100 on Amazon.

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9Adjust the Indoor Temperature

You can cut heating and cooling costs by as much as 10 percent by adjusting your thermostat 7 to 10 degrees F (cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer) from its normal setting for 8 hours a day. Make those adjustments at night when you're sleeping or when you're gone during the day and you'll never notice (except in the money you save).

If you don't want to hassle with turning the thermostat up and down manually, get a programmable thermostat to do it for you—or a smart thermostat like the heralded Nest. Energy Star estimates that programmable thermostats can reduce energy costs by $180 per year.

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10Insulate the Attic

Adding more insulation to an attic is one of the best ways to save, and it's easier than you might expect. First, measure the thickness of the insulation in your attic. If you have less than 11 inches of fiberglass or 8 inches of cellulose, which has the equivalent insulation value of R-30, you could improve your energy efficiency by adding more.

Roll fiberglass-batt insulation over the existing insulation, or rent a machine to blow in a few more inches of cellulose. Make sure to add fiberglass insulation to the attic side of your access door too. The extra attic insulation can knock $100 to $600 off your heating and cooling bills, according to HouseLogic.com, a site created by the National Association of Realtors.

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11Plant a Tree

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This spring, think about planting, not only to beautify your home, but also to save cash. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, positioning trees around the house can reduce heating and cooling costs by 25 percent. Broad leaf trees planted about 10 feet from the west, east, or northwest side of the house provide shade during the summer, then lose their leaves to let the sunshine through in the winter.

The Arbor Day Foundation also says that trees shading an air conditioner can increase its efficiency by up to 10 percent. It'll take time for the trees to grow to provide the shade and the related efficiencies, but don't forget that trees can also improve the value of your home.

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